Issued June 18, 2020
Service Employees International Union International President Mary Kay Henry released the following statement today celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision to reject the Trump administration’s efforts to rip protections away from over 600,000 DACA recipients:
“The Supreme Court’s decision brings joy and relief to hundreds of thousands of Dreamers, their families and their communities. All of us, no matter where we come from or the color of our skin, want the same things: health, safety, economic security, and a better future for our children. Young people signed up for DACA in order to fully contribute to their communities, feel safe, and continue to help the country that has become their home. The President’s attempt to divide us against each other was rightly rejected, just as it will be by the American people this November.
“Since June 2012, nearly 800,000 of these young people who came to the United States as children have come forward, passed background checks, and received permission to live and work in America. People like M.R., a home care worker, and SEIU member from California. M.R. enrolled in DACA in 2013. His parents raised him to contribute to his community, which DACA enabled him to do by getting a job caring for an elderly man who otherwise may be forced into a nursing home or other institutional setting. Tens of thousands of DACA recipients work in essential settings like these. They make us a stronger country.
“This month the United States has confronted the fact that we never lived up to the promise of our founding and ideals. Dreamers and supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement are united in our demand for justice and SEIU members see these fights as one in the same.
“SEIU members and the millions more united in the Fight for $15 and a Union are ready to put all our families first and elect new leaders in November who will support all working families, regardless of where they came from.”